The Rising
by Daydreaming of
Summary: When the girl was interrupted while trying to kill the green-eyed Shifter, her world came crashing down. After eight years of total isolation and freedom, she is imprisoned for her pains and forced to cooperate with eight of the world's biggest brats who are bent on reminding her of everything she wishes to forget... and teaching her how to trust and love once more.
1. Chapter 1: Chase

PLEASE READ THE PROLOGUE IN MY HOMEPAGE!

**Author's Note**: Sorry it's been so long but I just survived the final hell week of the school year so it's unofficially over and I'll have more time for writing. I'll be updating _Black Chocolate _and starting a new SnK multi-chaptered fanfic called _Wings_ in the days to follow before going on hiatus to finish a Sandman fanfic. In the meantime, please enjoy…

* * *

**Chapter 1: Chase**

Levi spurred his horse faster and the rushing air didn't sting his trained eyes. "Are you sure it's this way, Sasha?"

"Positive, sir!" screamed the girl, still clutching the fine red strand in her right hand along with the reins of her horse. She held it up to her nose for the umpteenth time that morning and sniffed, then lowered it and, as if on cue, the wind blew from the direction they were heading. "And whoever it is is still there, just a few meters away!"

"How do you know?" yelled Connie.

"Quiet! You'll scare away the prey!"

"It's you who's screaming, idiot!"

Levi sighed, already bordering on pissed without his morning coffee. Despite the drills they went through every afternoon, none of Levi's underlings were used to ignoring the sound of the air passing through them and the thundering of their own horses' hooves when riding yet but he knew that it was only a matter of time. For now, he will have to raise his voice every time he talked.

"Both of you shut up," said Levi. There was silence, and he let it settle for a while. "You all know what to do then?"

"Yes, sir!" replied four voices at once, each dripping with eagerness to make up to him and please, even those that belonged to Armin and Jean.

"Good," said Levi. "Disperse."

* * *

The wind smelled strangely and it came from the west. The girl lowered her fishing spear and listened. The early morning birdsong died abruptly in her head and for a moment, there was nothing in the void but the beating of her heart. And then she heard them: strange whizzing sounds like compressed air crashing through hollow space, and the unmistakable sound of knives piercing through bark, followed by the scattering of splinters on grass as they parted company with wood. They were approaching loudly, whoever made the noises, and they were making no effort to lower their voices.

By the time the riders had come to her spot, the fishes she had speared were in a hole beneath an inconspicuous rock by the stream. The girl herself had stored away her tool, stashed her now dry clothes into her bag, slung it on, put on her cloak, flipped up its hood, put on her hat, and tree-hopped a good way away and now she stopped to stare at the little party that were passing by the brook on their horses. There were rectangular metal boxes strapped to the side of their thighs that must have been the source of the noises that had given away their position. She let the corners of her mouth lift and crouched lower on her branch.

They were coming closer but she wasn't afraid. The rider on the left with ashen blond hair asked the dark-haired man in the middle a question; he gave him an answer she couldn't hear and beckoned to the blonde rider on his right, who loaded his pistol and fired green smoke into the air. The girl found this funny and smirked wider, then dove off her branch as she tucked her bangs behind her left ear.

* * *

Levi took a look at his advance guards' bleeding heads and knew at once that the intruder was in the trees. "Where?" he asked Connie, who had managed to remain conscious.

"Up ahead, sir," slurred the boy before blacking out.

"Jean," said Levi.

"Yes sir!" and in a second, he was within the trees and off.

"Armin."

"It's minor sir!" said Armin, releasing his pinch on the bleeding knot on Sasha's brow and hoisting her up on Jean's abandoned horse to move them to a more secluded spot. "Apparently, they just bumped their heads together. It's Historia who knows about stopping clots but that aside, they'll be fine soon."

"Good. Black, then."

"Yes, sir!" said Armin as he leapt up on his horse, or so Levi imagined as he galloped deeper into the forest after Jean. In a few seconds, a gunshot fired behind him and the wind picked up enough to throw the smell of gunpowder from Armin's flare gun at him.

He unslung the rifle off his shoulder and made sure it was loaded.

* * *

The girl flew through the trees, shooting a hook, reeling herself in, and then spooling the wire back into its source with the three different triggers of her grappling gun, relying on momentum and the angle of her shots and gravity to swing herself forward. She had left the bald boy and the ponytailed brunette sprawled beneath the tree when none of them steamed as a message for their comrades. They should consider themselves lucky that she hadn't pulled out her knives on them.

The whizzing, hissing sound returned but this time it was alone. Adrenaline washed over her like morning sunshine. For the first time in ten years, something intelligent was finally bent on killing her and she could only feel excited. If it was a chase they wanted, then she would give it to them.

She slowed down, willing for them to catch her, wishing they would try. She heard the pursuer overtake her from somewhere to her right and move to her front. And they came, rather, he came, the boy with dark blond hair from before, and he had two blades drawn and he was aiming for her. She did what he wanted her to do and backtracked at the last second with a graceful flip and started retracing her path, her three longest left fingers dancing on her gun's triggers and her free hand flicking a few needles in the direction of the long-faced boy's arms. It was just like what she did with Deviants when she was bored: she would let herself get caught, scream even, and wait until she was inside them then hook herself to their nape and slice them slowly from the inside.

A _bang_ rang clear through the air and she stopped the bullet in its tracks with her right hand and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next as she pushed on and when she passed the dark-haired man on his horse with his rifle, she blocked his shots with her foot and legs without looking. They didn't want to kill her, the way they weren't aiming for her middle and later on, they would realize that that had been their first mistake. She wanted to stay and witness the shock on his face but she might begin toying with the idea of killing them if she stayed any longer and that was out of the question. She had a record she didn't want to break it.

These were humans she was dealing with after all, not Titans.

* * *

Mikasa 3D-maneuvered her way through the trees as fast as she could without getting ahead of the others, not wanting to lose them from her sight. A black flare meant that their intruder was not only using the gear but had hurt their comrades and she, Eren and Historia had hurried with their rifles the moment they saw the smoke in the sky. "Eren," she said, "Stay with Historia as she heals the others. Don't engage in combat."

"What? Mikasa!"

"Levi-heichou's orders," said Mikasa, hoping that settled everything, knowing it didn't. "Our enemy might be stronger than us, and our goal is to keep you two safe."

Eren hissed. "Heichou's orders…who made you Vice-Captain anyway?!"

"Everyone, Eren," said Historia, dodging a branch that jutted in her way. "Except you. Because the Special Operation's Squad's job is to protect us, Mikasa's more than perfect for the position."

"I know that! But just because I'm not as good as you," he said, glancing angrily at Mikasa as he did a somersault and launched a hook in a fresh spurt of gas, "that doesn't mean I'm useless!"

"I didn't say you were," said Mikasa, relying on her gas alone as they passed through a clearing. "But if you were to get hurt now, you wouldn't be able to fight when we need you the most." She fired a hook to touch down as Armin, Sasha and Connie's familiar figures reached their line of vision.

"Armin! How were they hurt?" asked Historia as she landed next to their two other team mates who were dazed and leaning against a tree with their heads in bloody bandages, her hands already digging deep into her medical kit. Mikasa vaguely heard Armin explain the situation as she made out a trail of green smoke through a gap of the canopy above them.

"That's the signal," she muttered. She covered an ear with a hand and fired her own flare above them.

"If anything goes wrong-"

"Yes, yes, a red flare. Don't worry about us Mikasa, we'll be fine," said Eren. Mikasa observed him for a few seconds before deeming that there was nothing wrong about Eren trying to relieve her of her worries. She felt heat creep up to her face.

"Alright. I take my leave, then. They're coming."

* * *

The girl watched the trail of green smoke race through the sky until it was ahead of her with mild interest. Another signal, which meant the fun wasn't over yet.

She sped up until her two chasers were out of sight, then made a sudden turn to the right so that she was out of the path of pursuers from both sides, smirking at the prospect of another painful collision. She went on for several meters before heading back left so that she was dashing along her original path, still going at her top speed.

Furious green orbs roared their way into her sight and took her by surprise but its owner took too long a time to yell at her. She buried her left knee into the brown-haired boy's stomach before he had time to swing down his blades and swung with all her might to the right, then reeled herself upward and let inertia take a hold of her.

She hung on to her grappling gun with her left hand until she was steady, then did a forward flip to land on the branch's top side, unhooking her device as she did so. She had lost them, it was over, and now she leaned against the tree to catch her breath, sweating and pleased.

She had turned to leave – she mentally thanked all of them for the most interesting morning she had in a long time – when something caught her eye. The head of the boy nearest to her was lolling in his chest but he was moaning in pain even though she was more than sure that his spine had been snapped in half by the impact of his crash. Now, though, she couldn't be too sure now that she couldn't see him through his own steam.

Steam.

Something shifted in the girl's head and her stomach flipped in delight. She dropped her backpack and hopped down – she knew how to fall from whatever height she was given – and sauntered towards the boy. Nothing else existed except the shadow of his figure, half-hidden in his little mist. She wiped the moisture off her goggles and shoved his head upwards with a foot. He had a handsome face, she had to admit, but it wouldn't be any use to him when he was dead. She unsheathed her sword and withdrew her foot to trace her favorite weapon against his newly-exposed nape. She wanted to have fun, to carve pretty pictures onto his flesh elsewhere and hear him cry and beg before ultimately ending him, but his screams would only draw unwanted attention. Oh well, she thought. Grinning wider, she started to trace a thin, deep line against his nape and her _katana_ felt sweet against his soft, tender skin.

There was a rushing sound behind her but she twisted her body in time to block the taller girl's swords with her own. The intruder had a scar on her cheek and fury in her eyes and she snarled dangerously as the paler girl raised an eyebrow. "Don't you fucking _dare _touch Eren!"

Her short, dark hair swayed in the air as she slashed and parried with Shifter's would-be-demise and the _ting, ting_ of steel against steel echoed through the forest. "Eren is it?" asked the other girl, amused and definitely impressed. "Well then." The cloaked girl put more pressure on her hold on her sword as a feint and in one fluid motion, slid down, missing the dark-eyed girl's blades, and performed a round kick on her knees. She flipped in the air and did a flying kick between the former's breasts as her knees buckled, sending her flying a few meters back. It was over in less than five seconds.

Still smiling, the hooded girl pulled on the boy's hair and dumped him in front of his lady friend. "Well then, Eren's-friend," she said, raising her sword in the air with one hand and savoring the way the other girl's black eyes widened in silent horror. She tried standing but she was coughing out blood, blood that was as red as the scarf she was wearing.

"Would you like to watch him die?"

* * *

The intruder's sword was an inch from Eren's nape when Levi swung his blades forward with a battle cry. They snapped in equal halves from the impact but sent the enemy's long sword flying. He made for the stranger's heart with one of the sharp stumps of steel in his hands but he only managed make a huge gash on their boot as they retreated with a several back flips.

He righted himself in front of Eren and reeled in his gear's hook when the person didn't attempt to run away. "Stay down, Mikasa," he ordered the girl, facing her attacker and not looking at his comrade. "Krista's tending Jean. She'll be with you in a minute." He heard her utter his name before giving up consciousness.

He eyed the hooded figure with unruffled wariness. If they had been able to hurt Mikasa just like that, then they would definitely be a force to be reckoned with.

"I'll take it your our ginger," he said, sheathing his blades and letting a hand slip into his jacket's inner pocket, channeling the rage that was boiling in his gut into his hands. "Why don't you let me…" he pulled out his pistol and this time, pointed it at the person's head. "…paint the rest of your body red too?"

The gun flew out of his hands by something too quick for him to catch before he was able to pull the trigger and he found himself facing the intruder's fist. He caught them by the wrist before their punch met home and twisted it as he aimed a knee for their stomach and groped for his sword with his free hand. He was impressed by the enemy's primary speed, but now they were just being boring.

Something no finer than a needle pricked several spots in his left arm as his knee hit cold air. The intruder had jumped and was now holding on to _his _wrist over his surprise, about to plunge their sword into his throat. He scowled. They were good and quick but also completely open. He became aware that his left hand should have found the hilt of his sword by now but his whole left arm was hanging limply by his side, with droplets of blood oozing from where the needles pierced him. The intruder plunged their knee into his chest and, unable to balance himself because of his still airborne leg, he fell. For the first time in literally decades, something cold clawed at his gut and squeezed. In less than a second, he was going to die and not even because of a Titan. Everything went slow and he watched the tip of the person's sword dive towards his throat…

And then it stopped.

* * *

The tip of the girl's blade nicked the man's pale skin but didn't sink in. Frozen and horrified, she stared back at the man's piercing grey eyes and her lungs screamed to release the air they hold.

He wasn't… He couldn't be… can't…

"Tom?" she whispered.

For a split-second, his narrow orbs clouded over with confusion. Then, the moment passed and he bucked, and before the girl knew what was going on, her sword had flown off her hands and she was beneath him with her hood drawn back. He strangled her hard and her hands flew to his and pulled. _It's me! _she wanted to scream. _I cut my hair off but it's me!_ She watched him grit his teeth and realized with equal horror that it _wasn't _her master – just someone who happened to share his eyes.

He brought his fist down on her head – once, twice, and again – and everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2: Interrogation

**Author's Note**: Received my very first reviews ever for this story! One asked for more details (don't worry they'll come, I'm only just starting out; the revelations will come as the story progresses so stay tuned!), and the other simply made my day (ASDFGHJKL I'M SO DAMN HAPPY). I can't believe some people actually noticed this and for those of you who are still tuned in, I swear, I won't let you down!

This chapter's pacing's a bit slower than the first but it'll pick up by the time I reach Chapter 4 or so. For now, please enjoy...

* * *

**Chapter 2: Interrogation**

_The doctor who worked on her called the other doctors when she was finished and they talked in low voices and didn't let her leave the room. They sounded like they were fighting over something but she couldn't understand what. She asked if they were giving her medicine to make her sickness go away but nobody answered her. And then, one of the doctors took out something that looked like short, stubby scissors and asked her to hold out her left hand, palm down. She did because she was a good girl._

_When she woke up, her fingers were crying red, and when she screamed, the walls of her cell screamed back at her._

* * *

Her neck hurt when she shook her head and something malicious flitted its way out of her stomach. Her heart was banging uncomfortably in her chest and the cold air felt strangely artificial. There was a dull, pounding ache on her forehead; the light of the place beyond her lidded eyes was those of a new moon. The ground beneath her feet was hard but her back and the undersides of her thighs were on an unnaturally even surface. Her arms were pressed against something that wasn't her body and the scent of the air was spiced with familiarity.

The place below her ear prickled violently and her stomach lurched. She moved to grasp her sword but found that she couldn't, couldn't move, couldn't stand, couldn't curl up into a ball and scream, and the result was clenched fists, toes and eyes, her body pressed tightly against the chair she was tied in. This wasn't happening, this can't happening, she was still dreaming, still free, they hadn't caught her, they couldn't have, who'll save her if they did, why can't she wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up–

"Awake, are we?"

She heard her neck bones crackle as her head was flung aside by a powerful punch. The blood off the cut of her mouth tasted warm and metallic. She coughed up some more when someone drove their fist against her stomach. She felt nothing but the nervous churning in her gut and the acrid sludge of her vomit climbing up her throat. She wished it would just leave her already.

She knew where she was: she was in a _room_, with windowless walls and a roof blocking out the sun and she didn't know if it was the voice of irrational fright talking in her head or if the cold of the air told her she was, of all possible places to be in, underground.

She began to panic, existing and feeling but not comprehending, her heart, head and lungs started hurting, she was gulping in air but it wasn't enough. She couldn't move her arms or her feet, she was going to die, if the ceiling doesn't kill her, people will, she was going to die, she was going to motherfucking die underground, Titans were so much better than this, oh god, oh god, why, they were going to kill her, she was going to–

"Heichou told me not to start without him," said a quiet, silky voice. "But you know what? He's busy at the moment. And he wouldn't mind if I saved him some time."

Her eyes flew open, and all at once she remembered. And then, calmer and more relieved than she had ever been in ages, she swallowed, released a shaky, silent breath and raised her head to passively stare at the girl with the blood-red scarf.

* * *

Levi listened to the dull thud of a blow hitting a body and _tssk_ed. He had told Mikasa to wait for him, explained that she was only allowed to hit her when she refused to answer his questions but no, she had to go on ahead and start without him because Eren, Eren, Eren, and _Eren_; Levi-Heichou, did I mention Eren? He rolled his eyes as he opened the cellar's trapdoor and started trudging his way downstairs. Even though Mikasa was the one he could relate to the most in his whole Squad, that didn't take away the fact that she was the most annoying.

He huffed as he listened to her release a barrage of hits on their quiet intruder. He wondered if Little-Miss-Broody-Pants (_Shouldn't it be "Broody-Scarf?"_) would be more obedient if he threatened to punish Eren in her place everytime she did something that displeased him.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and as expected, Mikasa was so absorbed in what she was doing that his arrival came unnoticed. The candle on the table was closer to the tortured and her torturer, enabling him to hide in the darkness and remain unseen but view them without much difficulty. He tried crossing his arms before remembering he was injured. He cursed beneath his breath. His left arm had been totally immobile while the needles were buried deep into his muscles but Historia must have done something wrong in pulling them out because now he couldn't move them without sending his whole limb on fire with the most irritating little spasms of pain, like his funny bone decided to take up residency beneath the skin of his whole arm. That and the slightest shift in position would soak his bandage through with droplets of blood inappropriate for the size of the holes they came from until he was left with an icky, sticky, generally shitty feeling.

He was pissed and he frowned but he'll think about that later. The girl was probably half dead already, the way the other woman was mercilessly banging her face against the wall, and Levi wanted nothing more than to climb up the stairs and have Historia replace his bandages with fresh ones (again). Best to get it over already.

"Mikasa," he said, stepping into the light. "I'm punishing you for that later." The girl on the floor stopped shaking and shrank.

* * *

Mikasa flinched at the sound of her name but embedded her blade deeper into the girl's left cheek as she turned to look at her captain. He was mad at her, she can tell, and he _will_punish her this time, but even humanity's strongest could do nothing to turn back the time and undo what she did. This thought, however, almost did nothing to improve her mood. She righted the other girl's chair in a brusque fashion and stepped aside, not caring to apologize. She ignored the painful twinge between her breasts and glared at Levi as he approached their captive. The enemy had hurt and threatened to kill Eren, _her_Eren, and what Mikasa had done to her so far wasn't halfway enough to compensate for what she did to her family.

As she never had the chance before, Mikasa had never been one to be sadistic but as Armin always said, there's always a first time for everything. The ginger had looked cute when she just woke up, trembling like a leaf, hyperventilating even. Hurting her had been so _fun_, but then something happened and suddenly, she was staring at the Mikasa like the dark-haired girl was the most boring, pathetic excuse of a human being to ever exist and no matter how hard the taller woman hit her, that snide expression just wouldn't leave her goddamned face. It pissed her off to no end and, though she would never admit it, it bothered her.

"What's your name?" Levi demanded. "Who sent you to kill Eren?" Mikasa flexed her fingers, wishing she wouldn't break the silence, wishing for an excuse to hurt her.

A change overcame the girl: she had bowed her head and hidden behind her bangs like a wilted flower when she learned of Levi's presence but now she stiffened and her shuddering stopped altogether. And then she straightened quite easily, like the past fifteen minutes hadn't happened (Mikasa gripped her right wrist to stop it from swinging her sword forward) and stared at her captor the way she did with her torturer. But there was a difference: in the dim candlelight, Mikasa's obsidian orbs saw that this time there was a irate blaze burning behind the intruder's dark blue eyes.

Levi stared back at her unflinching. He tilted his head back ever so slightly. "Hmm. Stiff resolve. Very well then."

Mikasa started, distracted by the passionate wrath the other girl radiated before realizing that that was her cue. She held on to the chair's headboard smiled mirthlessly as she drove her knee twice against the blue-eyed girl's stomach, savoring the warmth of the specks of blood she coughed into her shirt.

"I'll ask you again," said Levi. "Who are you and who are you working for?"

The girl said nothing but kept staring at him. Mikasa grabbed a fistful of short red hair and slammed the shorter girl's face against the floor.

"He asked you a question, bitch," she growled, placing a foot heavily against the girl's head. "Answer him."

"Mikasa. That's enough."

"But Heichou-!"

"_Enough_Mikasa. Or do you want me to punish Eren in your place?"

Mikasa gasped, horrified of the prospect of another court episode but froze when she heard something that sounded like a repressed snort. She looked down. The girl's whole face was smothered in blood but Mikasa distinctly saw the corner of her mouth twitch upward for a split-second before disappearing in the candle's sputtering light. Furious to the brink of madness, she turned her head to appeal to Levi but he only looked at her impatiently, still scowling, still waiting for her to move aside, painfully innocent of what just happened. She pondered over ending it once and for all but the memory of Eren's face screwed up in pain forced her to hold on to her sanity.

She put the battered chair up in its proper position and stepped aside, vaguely aware of the splinters entrenched in her trembling hand from gripping its headboard too tightly. It was all she could do to keep herself from thrusting her bloody fist into the pale girl's throat with all her might.

"I admire your sense of dignity," said Levi. "But that's not gonna get you out of here." He drew out his blade and hit her head with its flat side before resting its point against her nape. "If you want to keep holding your head up high…" he drawled, pricking her nape until his sword's tip was lost from sight, replaced by a little bead of scarlet. "… I suggest you start talking."

The girl didn't respond and just kept on staring at him. _Try me,_her raging eyes seemed to say, the rest of her face still lax and emotionless.

Mikasa thought about the thousand ways she could rip her into pieces.

* * *

"Anything?" asked Jean, sitting on a stool in front of Historia with his shirt open for what felt like the thousandth time that afternoon.

"No," said Sasha, who was lying on the floor, her right ear pressed against the kitchen's trapdoor that led to the cellar. "I think Heichou's saying something about being impressed but she still hasn't said a single word. I wonder if they killed her."

"They wouldn't," said Historia, gingerly applying a gauze patch to one of the many bleeding needle-sized holes on her comrade's shoulders. "I heard Hange-san saying something about her bags being made of Titan's skin. I don't think they would kill her for that."

"More like screaming something," Jean mumbled.

"Is Mikasa finished yet?" Connie asked as his head peeked into the kitchen door. "Eren's awake and it would look awkward if I were the one to spoon-feed him."

"Why?" asked Jean trying not to move his shoulder as her turned to look at the shorter boy. "The bastard's a grown man, he doesn't need to be looked after. Damn," he hissed as a brand new ribbon of red trailed down his chest. Connie shrugged as he took a seat. "He just gapes at the ceiling like a fish but I distinctively heard his stomach growling."

"Maybe it was just yours," muttered Sasha distractedly, her ears still glued to the wooden square on the floor.

"It's his spine that's damaged," explained Historia, stopping another one of her squad mates' pending verbal battles and dabbing at her patient's freshest trickle of blood. "His nerves wouldn't be able to control his body until he's fully healed."

Connie sighed and fingered the bandage wrapped around his head. "That, and I still see stars every time I turn my head."

"Same here," said Sasha, on her spot on the floor. "But it doesn't hurt as much when I do this." She shut her eyes tight and placed her palms on the side of her head. And then, slowly, she rose to a sitting position, let go of her head and gently opened her eyes. She blinked a few times. "Ah, there! That's much better. Not as dizzying as before-"

The trapdoor slammed outward and everyone instinctively jerked their heads to see Mikasa's furious looking face ascend from the hole on the floor, her breathing sharp and shallow. Sasha and Connie winced and whined and held on to their bowed heads like their lives depended on it.

"Mikasa!" exclaimed Jean, "What happened? Are you -?"

"Get me Armin."

* * *

"Are you sure it's personal?" Mikasa asked her best friend. "Something to make her cooperate?"

"Positive," replied Armin, clutching the rectangular patch of bound leather closer to his chest as they descended the steps to the wine cellar. "Asides from her extra clothes, a talisman and a violin, this seems to be the only thing she owns that has nothing to do with killing Titans."

"Good," said Mikasa, tearing her side-ward glance away from him to glare ahead at something he couldn't see. "That's good."

They continued their journey in silence. Mikasa rolled away the empty wine barrel that covered a hidden trapdoor in the cellar and Armin pulled it open. He closed it gently to prevent the flame on Mikasa's candle from going out and they continued to march deeper underground. Armin had been working with Hange in inspecting their intruder's belongings and his hands were full of little nicks from probing curiosities that had turned out to be weapons as he was putting them down. His superior, on the other hand, had insisted on placing each item beneath her microscope and had very nearly strangled Armin to his death out of excitement. "I've never seen anything like this!" she had cried, performing a jumpy little victory dance with what looked like an ordinary jar of pickles in her hands. "I'm marking today on my calendar as the best day of my life so far!"

As he and Historia were the only one uninjured upon their return to their headquarters, Levi allowed Armin to busy himself with stripping the intruder of her belongings as his other golden-haired comrade tended the others. Even before Hange came to call ("I came for a quick visit and find another person to practice torturing on and a backpack full of goodies!" she had exclaimed to Levi after dispatching her squad-mate companion to go summon Erwin. "Isn't destiny the loveliest thing ever?"), he had already unearthed dozens of oddities from her bag and secret pockets from various articles of clothing such as a flask full of a clear, odorless liquid that killed one of the caged mice they had captured from their first cleaning expedition that he fed it to; a lengthy coil of wire that sliced his hand without him knowing; strange looking cogs that pricked him; a long staff with an arrowhead on one end that smelled like raw fish; notebooks with scribbles written in a different language; an open-ended, three-inch long ceramic cylinder with a hole in the middle; and, of all things, a violin. He had left Hange examining the redhead's clothes when Mikasa called for him, asking him to bring the most precious of the girl's possessions.

As they tramped down the final step, Mikasa wordlessly handed him the candle-holder and took the item from his hands. They approached Levi and Armin stifled a gasp when he saw their honored guest.

In the candlelight, she looked nothing short of terrifying: her face was puffy and her whole head was slick with blood that dripped down her neck and created red stains on her black, sleeveless wraparound tunic (_How could she stand the cold?_); there were bruises on her cuts and cuts on her bruises. Puddles of blood surrounded her chair as if she had recently been beaten up on the floor. Her hair was very short with bangs falling over her left eye, and the one exposed on the right side of her face was a dark blue that was almost black, more than intent on setting her interrogator's eyes on fire.

"Recognize this?" Levi asked, holding up the thing Mikasa handed him after giving it a close look. Armin saw that there was a gash on the stranger's nape but she was still pretty much alive and not at all steaming and he sighed a small breath of relief. It wasn't a Shifter that they were up against and that automatically doubled their chances of winning against her from four to one to two to one.

He moved closer to illuminate the rectangular patch of darkness on his captain's right hand. The girl eyed it for a split-second and Armin watched as familiarity seeped into her eyes followed immediately by fear and panic. He had guessed rightly: among all her possessions, her half-full sketchbook was her weakest link.

"These are nice drawings," Levi said, idly turning the pages over the best he could with just one hand and sounding as if he was talking about the weather. The girl made to stand and knock it off his hands but Mikasa pressed her blade against her heart with a cruel jeer that horrified Armin.

"Wouldn't it be a shame," their Captain said coolly, inching the notebook closer towards the flame of Armin's candle. The girl's mouth was moving, but not a sound escaped her lips. "Wouldn't it be a shame," Levi whispered, never taking his eyes off her, "…if something were to-"

"NO!"

Armin jumped at the sound of the girl's voice. It echoed across the tiny room and forced his heart to gallop at full speed and his hair to stand on end. It was the voice of a frightened child witnessing her mother's demise, the autumn wind mourning the death that surrounds it, the final cry of a dying swan.

Smoke hissed from the corner of the book's leather cover and Armin realized that he had jerked his hand back. He looked at Levi to see if they should continue burning it but the older man made no move to move closer to the flame. "No?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't!" cried the girl. "Stop! I-" But she couldn't bring herself to make any promises. She bowed her head and said no more. Her fists were quivering on the chair's armrest.

Levi approached her, handing the notebook back to Armin as he did so. "What is your name?"

The girl inhaled through clenched teeth and seethed: "Ruska."

"Ruska," repeated Levi as if tasting her name. "Who sent you?"

"No one," she spat out.

"Where are you from?"

She hissed threateningly but gritted out, "Nowhere."

"And where is that exactly?" asked Levi, holding on to Mikasa's arm to keep her from taking another step forward.

The girl on the chair hesitated. Then she said, "Hell."

Armin exchanged glances with Mikasa, his full of confusion, hers full of skeptic wrath for the stranger. When he turned back to his captain, he was surprised to see the faintest glimmer of a smirk leave the shorter man's mouth. "How many?" he asked.

The answer came quicker than Armin expected it to. "Three hundred sixteen." There was a sudden edge to her voice that made it sound quietly menacing and menacingly quiet, and he detected something that might have been pride in her strange words.

"Any Shifters?" asked Levi. The younger man started. Could it be that they were talking about…?

This time, the girl lifted her head just a fraction of an inch. "None." Armin saw her gaze sidle over to her side. "Yet." Mikasa hissed next to her, finally getting the flow of their conversation.

"I see. Not bad," answered Levi and though they've only been together for a week, Armin could tell that the older man was truly impressed.

The grey-eyed man stared at the seated girl a little longer. "Let's take a break. No Mikasa, we're done for today. You will go up to Krista and tell her to come down here." Mikasa had opened her mouth to protest but nodded at the sight of Levi's glare and with one last dirty look at the tortured, went briskly up the stairs.

Something jingled as it flew through the air and Armin barely stretched out his hand in time to catch it. A string of keys. "Armin. Follow up your research with Hange once you lock this bitch up in one of the cells."

"Yes sir!" Armin promptly answered, handing Levi the sketchbook as the dark-haired reached for it and placing his candle on the table.

"The name's Levi by the way," the shorter man said, going after Mikasa and leaving their line of sight as he ascended the stair's stone steps. Armin looked to the direction of his voice, perplexed, before realizing that his captain wasn't talking to him. "160 solos. No Shifters. Yet. Eren is off-limits if you want your freedom." The trapdoor snapped shut behind him.

By the time Armin finished untying one her bonds, the girl, Ruska, had already passed out. He stared at her swollen, bloodstained face and wondered how far they were supposed to throw their humanity away before it made any difference.


	3. Chapter 3: Decision

PLEASE READ THE PROLOGUE IN MY HOMEPAGE!

**Author's Note**: I'm new to this society and just realized that even here there are people who are impatient and/or unimaginative. I received quite a bit of a bashing (it was an unfair fight guys, she had weapons and he didn't but if he did, she'd be dead in less than a millisecond because Levi-friggin'-Heichou is goddamned **_Levi-Friggin'-Heichou_**; no matter how flighty my mind is and how many possible dimensions there are out there, reality can do nothing against Levi-friggin'-Heichou being **_Levi-Friggin'-Heichou_**) for this fic and to those of you who are doing it on purpose with a reasonable reason and can face up to it, kindly read the two points below.

Point 1: I received a review calling me a dumbass just because I invented something up for this fic that completely defies the current **_Sacred Canon Rules and Ground Rules of the World of Isayama Hajime's Shingeki no Kyojin_** and I just wanna say that there's a reason why fanfictions are called "fan_fictions_." A die-hard supporter of an ongoing/finished story that isn't hers/his (hence the "fan" part of the word) conjures dreamstuff out of the air based on the world/characters of that story (hence the "fiction" part of the word), therefore defining the words "fanfiction author", which is you and me. Everyone consists of different views and points and it's no one's fault if we all have different opinions on different matters. If you don't like the way my imagination works, that's perfectly okay, but if you can't hold your tongue and respect that, you can leave. I'm not one to do or apply unreasonable and unnecessary stuff to the things I hold dear (such as this story) so if you think I'm being unreasonable and unnecessary, please see Point 2.

Point 2: I said it once (not in these exact words, but hey) and I'll say it again: Good things come to those who wait. The best books I've read don't give up their secrets all at once and I'm seriously striving to become a full-fledged writer of original fiction someday, so I practice and apply that fact to my works, no matter how sucky the practice and application goes. If you aren't patient enough to watch my baby grow, you can always come back in a few years when it's done. I'm flattered that you people actually notice the reality flaws of this story but before you waste your time on bombarding me with skeptic questions in an attempt to humiliate me, I suggest you watch out for the updates for explanations on the topics you find mysterious/straight-out wrong/seemingly pointless at the moment. If you still have a problem with the story even after an explanation for a certain matter has been provided, please refer to Point 1.

And to those of you who are kind enough to hide your pissed-offedness over me and continue on bearing with my air-headedness and slow pacing just to see what happens next, from the bottom of my heart to the tips of my twitchy, calloused, typist's fingers, thank you. You will not be sorry.

P.S. I made a pact not to read a single SnK update until I conclude this so that I won't hesitate to follow this through and finish it. The last chapter I read was the 55th (but I understand that Levi's an Ackerman now – thank you, "our-admins-promise-not-to-freakin'-spoil-you" Facebook fan pages!) so just a word of caution: henceforth, this story will no longer match any of the brand-new presented **_Sacred Canon Rules and Ground Rules of the World of Isayama Hajime's Shingeki no Kyojin_** from Chapter 56 and beyond. It's basically "Shingeki no Kyojin Daydreaming of style" from here on out, so refer to the two points above and please don't say I didn't warn you.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Decision**

Eren watched Mikasa as she entered the boys' room; he had been able to turn his head on her approach but everything below his neck still felt numb.

"Are you alright Eren?" she asked, placing the solitary chair from the corner to the door's left next to his bunk and seating herself. "Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine Mikasa," he said, struggling in vain to try and make his fingers twitch. "I just can't move myself, that's all."

She took his hand in hers. He didn't feel anything. "Why did you disobey me Eren?"

Eren felt an irritable heat creep up his face. Ever since he awoke, there had been nothing in his head but the two seconds it took for him to get smashed against a tree and half die because of a single kick to his gut. And now, here he was, lying in bed and being a nuisance while everyone else was up and about, not being a bother, not slowing anyone down. He gritted his teeth in frustration and turned away from his sister. Was he really _that _weak?!

"I just wanted to help. Sorry. If that's what you want to hear," he added in a huff.

"Eren, I- I should be the one to apologize."

He turned back to face Mikasa and blinked at her guilt-ridden face. "I failed to protect you, Eren. I wasn't strong enough. I'm sorry. I promise I'll do better next time. Please forgive me."

Eren felt his face crinkle in confusion. Mikasa? Weak? That's impossible. "What are you talking about?"

She shook her head and turned away. All the anger that rumbled around in his chest instantly turned into guilt at the sight of the liquid pearls hovering at the corners of her eyes. He tried to move his arms to sit up and wipe her tears then remembered his condition.

"Don't worry, I'm not mad at you. It's okay now," he said a little feebly. "Besides, I'm sure Levi-heichou beat the crap out of him, right?"

The change overcame Mikasa so suddenly that Eren was almost frightened. Her tears left as quickly as they came and a cold light made her jet black eyes even darker. What unsettled Eren the most, though, was the vicious looking smirk that crooked her lips by the merest fraction of an inch. "Yes," she said, as if speaking to herself and not to him, staring shadily ahead of her. "Yes, we did."

"W-well," said Eren with cheer he didn't feel, "no harm done then! So you should stop feeling sorry for yourself now… I mean, if you still feel that way."

He stared at her, bothered by the steely look on her face and didn't look away until he was sure she had softened back to her usual self. He released a breath he didn't know he had been holding when she turned back to face him with a small smile he certainly hadn't seen in a long time. "Thank you, Eren. Don't worry. She couldn't hurt you anymore. I made sure of it"

"She?" he asked incredulously.

"Knock, knock!" came a voice from outside partnered with two corresponding taps on the strip of wood that was the door. "Is this a bad time? Or should I say, are you two decent?"

"Ah, no and yes, Connie!" said Eren loudly, wondering why his comrade would ask such strange questions. He turned to look questioningly at Mikasa but was surprised to see her staring at her lap with her cheeks lightly dusted with pink. "You can come in!" she cried, her expression hidden beneath her bangs.

The door partly opened and Connie's bandaged head peeked in. "Oh, good," he whispered to them with a sheepish grin. "It's really Jean who's coming in; he just made me knock 'cause he wants to be 'discreet,' whatever the hell that means." He turned his head slowly to look over his shoulder at someone Eren couldn't see from inside the room. "Hey, Lover Boy! Tell Sasha she can scream for me now, so I can tell them-" Eren heard a _whump_ and a loudly whispered "_Shut up!_" followed by a pained wail from Connie.

"'Discreet' means 'respectful,' Connie!" resounded Sasha's voice one storey below them. "I asked Levi-heichou! By the way, am I supposed to say I need you down here now?"

"Damn you both!" yelled Jean's voice and a moment later, the door fully opened to reveal his flushed face. "Erwin-danchou's here," he mumbled, staring at the direction of Mikasa's feet. "Levi-heichou wants everyone downstairs to talk about what to do with the prisoner."

"We'll be with you in a minute," said Mikasa, rising to bring Eren to his feet. The brunet felt an embarrassed heat steal across his face. If there was anyone in the world he didn't want to see the state he was in, it would have to be horse-faced rival. "Can you leave us for a moment?"

He didn't understand why Jean reddened even more. "Why?" the taller boy asked with unnecessary sharpness.

"Because Eren wants his privacy," answered Mikasa almost as heatedly.

"I don't want to fight with you, Mikasa," he said, surpassing pink and going scarlet. "But if you keep babying him-"

"She isn't babying me!" yelled Eren, wishing he could push himself up and stand. "What the hell is your problem?"

"Oh, I don't know, Eren!" Jean spat back. "Why don't you tell me?"

Before Eren could answer, the door yawned wide to expose their Squad's healer. She pushed past Jean without so much as a glance at him and said, "Mikasa. What exactly have you done to her?" There was something in her bright blue eyes that unnerved Eren, as if she had seen terrors she didn't want to believe in but chose not to care no matter how affected she was. Suddenly, Krista Lenz's phony, cheery smiles didn't seem to be so bad compared to Historia Reiss's current reptilian expression.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Mikasa said coldly.

"You know perfectly well what I mean," Historia said simply.

Mikasa bowed slightly and Eren saw that the terrible sneer was back on her face. "I did," she spoke, her voice a decibel lower. "what I had to do."

* * *

_"What are you going to do to me?" she yelled, stuffing her bleeding hands into the stockings she wore. This time, the doctor was alone again, and in his hands was a hypodermic needle._

_"Don't worry," said the doctor, with his blank voice and face. "This will make you forget everything."_

_The little girl stopped crying and asked, "Is that my medicine, doctor?"_

_"Yes."_

_She ambled towards him cautiously, unearthing her hidden hands and she watched the clear liquid leave its thin glass tube and enter her arm. _

* * *

Something made of cloth and chilly and wet was pressed against the girl's stomach. The ground she was lying on was stone cold and slightly moist. Something hard and heavy kept her wrists from touching the ground. She knew what they were without looking at them. Shackles of a chain.

The air smelled damp and dark and death. A warm orange glow from the gloom pervaded her eyes when she rolled them behind their lids. Probably from lit torches on their brackets on the walls.

She felt the inside of her mouth with her tongue. There were a lot of cuts on both; the deepest were at the sides of her cheeks. They were still raw and they stung when she licked them. Her lips tasted funny, like someone had just rubbed ointment over the spots that had been cut or bruised.

She brought her hands to her face and poked the parts that were puffy or had gauze taped over them. She winced. Wrong move. Her nose was miraculously whole and there was a bandage wrapped around her head. The thing in her shirt against her stomach was a pouch full of… what was it called? Snow? No, snow is soft, and it melts once it had stopped falling from the sky. This was cold but hard and wet and it numbed the pain in her abdomen considerably well. A… as… i… ice? Yes, that was it. It had been so long…

She coughed. The air within the Walls stank and the one that circulated in a dungeon beneath the ground untouched by sun, wind and rain did even more so. If they had decided to throw her out into the Wasteland in the same condition instead of burying her beneath the earth in a place with a ceiling and no windows, she wouldn't feel half as bad.

She reached for the goggles that were slung around her neck then remembered they weren't there. She covered her eyes with her hands. Her heart felt very uncomfortable and pained and rage bubbled furiously in her stomach but emotions were messy things that weren't worth the time and effort to acknowledge and deal with, so she pushed herself up with much silent cringing and began to consider the situation she was in.

She was injured underground and undoubtedly behind bars (she hadn't opened her eyes yet) with no weapons or any possible means of escape. There were at least eight people in the building – the Shifter, the girl Mikasa, the boy Armin, the ponytailed brunette and the bald boy who crashed against each other in pursuing her, and "Jean," the one whom "Krista" was tending to when _he _interfered (the girl grit her teeth and clenched her fists until she was sure she made a permanent dent on her temporary palms) – who were deciding what to do with her somewhere up above.

She leaned back and closed her eyes, focusing on the vibrations throbbing ever so slightly against the thick stone wall. Beyond the hurried pattering of mice's feet one floor above her were cushioned pulses, making it difficult for her to determine just how many people were seated wearing boots around something still and solid. Most of the heartbeats were normal but serious, but two were excited, one was enraged and the other apathetic. She stilled her own breathing and plunged deeper into the void… there were ten people above her, but one was moving about; the other rose and followed the first towards her while everybody else rose and gathered around an area (possibly a doorway). Two were left on their seats but right now, they didn't matter.

She opened her eyes and scowled. She thought that there might have been some time for her to plan and indulge on her revenges but she heard a door open somewhere above her to the right and footsteps. She felt the painful twinge of apprehension in her gut: it had been eight years since she last conversed with her kind and now…

She shook her head as if dislodging birds nesting on her hair. She was a doer, not a thinker, not that there had ever been any time for her to ever stop and think before anyway. Worrying and anticipating won't help her now, won't give her back her strength or weapons, won't bind them all tight so that she could kill them slowly and easily. _Just take whatever they dish out_: that was one of the first and last things he had told her. It had been, was, and always will be the battle plan, won't it?

By the time the two men have positioned themselves in front of her, she had managed to look as if she had been reclining, bored and listless, against the wall furthest from them since the beginning of time. Her interrogator was back but the tall blonde man who was missing his right arm was a stranger. She eyed the empty sleeve of his leather jacket passively.

"Hello, Ruska," he said. She flinched at the sound of her name but didn't let them see and the tips of her fingers made even deeper impressions into her palms. "Levi has been telling me about you."

She glared at Levi who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. She took in the furrow between his eyes, the crease his frown made on his face and wondered how she could have ever mistaken the short man for her traveling companion. She looked back at the blonde. "My name is Erwin Smith, commander of the Scouting Legion. We are a group of people who aim to wipe Titans of the face of the earth." His empty sleeve fluttered faintly. She felt like she should at least feel the tiniest hint of sympathy. "I have a few questions to ask you. I would like for you to answer them."

There was a bench next to the wall facing her cell and he sat down. "Where have you lived before going outside the Walls?"

She looked at him, wondering what they'd do to her if she didn't answer or lied. _Either way, I'm killing you too._ "I've never been here," she intoned tonelessly.

"You mean you've been outside all your life?"

"Aa."

"By 'outside,' do you mean in a village southeast of Wall Maria?"

She clenched her teeth. "I left."

"Five years ago?"

She raised an eyebrow. The caravan was five years ago which means… which means she's hit the jackpot. "Ten," she said, suppressing a triumphant grin.

"Are you a Shifter?"

She permitted him to see how disgusted she was. "No," she said. He stared deep into her eyes with icy blue spheres. He was the first to drop his gaze.

"I see. What to you are Shifters?"

She let her façade turn into dust. Finally, someone was asking the right questions. "Game."

"Less than animals you mean?"

She smirked wider. Levi shifted at the corner of her eye and she pretended not to notice.

"Why did you leave your village?"

Her mouth dropped down. "To hunt Titans," she said. It definitely wasn't a lie but it was the reason why she was born, not why she left.

"Alone?"

She reconstructed her mask and instinctively stared down at her feet. "Not at first."

"And how long have you been by yourself?"

"Eight years." She didn't want this conversation anymore.

"I see. That's very impressive. Can you kill humans?"

She was startled at the sudden change of topic but regained composure in a second. Levi visibly turned his head to look at his comrade. "I do Titans better," she said.

"But could you?"

She realized the gravity of the question and raised her bowed head. "If I wanted to," she growled low, staring deep into the man's soul. She felt Levi's eyes set fire to her hair.

Something flickered behind her asker's eyes but he didn't flinch as he stared straight back. Somewhere above them, the ceiling had a crack, and she listened to the water _drip_, _drip_, _drip_, down to the floor, endless and hypnotic.

The man Smith smiled. "I like that. Now, let's talk about the conditions of your release."

She wanted to say something snide, to drawl that she didn't need conditions, or raise her chin and say that she didn't want to negotiate, but she had nothing to back up her claims, no weapons, no strength. She pressed her lips together and glared at them both. "Get to the point."

"We need," he said, inching closer to the edge of the bench and lowering himself so that their eyes were almost level with each other, "an assassin."

...

_30 minutes earlier_

"An assassin?"

Historia started in her seat and looked around her, perplexed as to what she was doing at the dinner table with everybody else gathered around. It was Hange's incredulous voice that had rudely jerked her out of her reverie and in a second, she remembered what had happened the past half hour, from Levi commending her on how she found the single strand of scarlet that stood out in the field of gold that was the straw heap in the stables after his initial report to Erwin about the intruder, to the moment she drifted off after denying that their gatecrasher was a Shifter based on her time on healing her, much to their scientist's dismay (Historia had only ever been with her twice before but she had been able to correctly interpret, with Levi's non-verbal confirmation, that the maniacal gleam that had shone in the older woman's coffee-colored eyes when she asked Historia her question meant that she had been very much looking forward to dissecting the stranger) and everyone else's delight.

"Erwin," continued Hange. "I understand that we need to look as pretty as possible to the public, but you specifically said we'll keep our hands clean of the matter."

"Yes," said Erwin opposite her at the other end of the table. "As I told Pixis, no human being's demise would result from our revolt. However, blood _will _be shed, and if she agrees, we will have our prisoner do it for us."

Everyone pondered on this in silence which was quickly broken by Levi. "Attempted murder?" he asked.

Hange murmured a small _Ohh _in understanding and smiled as Erwin nodded. "I get your drift. Good one, old man. But what if we lose control of her?"

"You underestimate me, Hange," said Levi, shooting something that was almost a glare towards his fellow squad leader. "Ackerman and I are more than enough to keep her in check."

"Yeah, but still, even if she's just your average human, how on earth do you explain the state of your arm?"

"Please hold on for a second," queried Sasha as Levi opened his mouth to retort. "Could you please explain it for the rest of us?"

"We're going to make her wreak havoc for us over a long stretch of time," Armin answered, facing across him two seats to his left to converse with his comrade better, "always preferably ending with a narrow escape, to really get on the MP's nerves. And then, when everyone's had enough of the government's apparent lack of control, we'll pretend to catch her while she's in the middle of something really important-"

"To make us look like the good guys!" finished Connie from between Historia and Sasha, finally getting a grip on the conversation.

"Erwin," said Levi, "If the bitch didn't show up, who were you planning to hire?"

"The thugs of the underworld are too fickle," he answered, "I fear that they might give us away after a short while once they find someone willing to pay them more than their original clients did. My primary plan was to risk the chance of detection and assemble some of our people with you leading them." He shot a knowing look at Levi and the latter glared at his lap. Historia didn't miss the shady _Don't ask _look Eren provided his Squad mates and the way Hange was avoiding eye contact by being busy wiping her glasses with a handkerchief. She wondered why that was necessary.

"So we get her to do the dirty work," said Levi, still not looking at Erwin. "I suppose you'd want me to teach her. But what do we do with her afterwards?"

"That is for time to decide," said Erwin. "If necessary, we will force her to work with us –"

"We've done that already," said Levi. Two seats to his right, Mikasa's snorted and her lips quirked upward humorlessly. Between them, Eren swallowed nervously and seemed to shrink a few inches.

"– until either Historia rises as queen or we march to the gallows." The party shuffled its feet and huffed or gulped nervously but Historia could not share their anxiety. She mirrored Mikasa, Levi and Hange's grim nods but felt only numbness as she did so.

"How long are you planning to stretch this, Erwin?" asked Hange. "With your permission, I'd like to do more research on her things and I'm going to need some time."

"Granted," (Hange pulled both fists towards her body and whispered a little "Yes!) "We'll need her service for at least a few months;" (here, Hange repeated the action but this time with a more pronounced, "_Yes_!" and an,"I love you so, so much, Erwin!") "that and the additional time it would take her to heal from interrogation, practice and dry runs –"

"Erwin-danchou," interrupted Mikasa, speaking for the first time. Her earlier sadistic smugness had vanished over "a few months" and now there was nothing on her face but horror over the prospect of having her Eren sleep under the same roof with his would-have-been killer. "Erwin-danchou, I understand the gravity of our situation and how important it is that we avoid detection. However, I strongly believe that this person is not to be trusted. We do not know who she is, her affiliates, or even if she really is from Outside. How do we know if she won't betray us the first chance she gets?"

"And what do you propose we do?" Levi asked.

"Kill her, Levi-heichou," she said, the ghost of suppressed rage overshadowing her face. "For all we know, she might be a spy from the Military Police and the longer we keep her here, the more she will know about us." She turned back to Erwin. "Sir, I don't know how she acquired the strange things she owns or how Heichou's bullets rebounded off her, but I believe that keeping her here is dangerous, not only to Eren and Historia, but to the future of the whole Scouting Legion as well, and in that effect, to Humanity."

"That is true," said Erwin before Jean was able to second Mikasa. "However, if this operation succeeds with her help, mankind's survival for at least a hundred more years will be ensured. Terminating her without so much as an assessment of her abilities might as well confirm the downfall of life within the walls. I will not see that happen."

"Erwin-danchou," said Mikasa anxiously, desperation coloring her voice, "I understand that I am a mere soldier with no right to tell her authorities what to do and I apologize for my shamelessness. But I believe it's too risky-"

"Then it is a risk we'll have to take," said Erwin curtly and calmly. Mikasa bowed her head and squeezed her lips together. Eren gave her a slightly exasperated look and she answered with one of her signature _But Eren-! _gazes. "I understand your fears, Mikasa," Erwin continued, this time a little more warmly. "However, I am confident that Squad Levi has ample strength to subdue her if necessary." Historia watched Sasha and Connie exchange looks while Eren stared quizzically at Jean's bandaged shoulder (which was, for the seventh time for the day, bleeding) as the latter glared at him as if to say _At least _I_ haven't been knocked cold without so much as a fight, spineless bastard!_ from the corner of her eye.

Armin seemed to have been observing this too because he said, "Don't worry guys. If she gets rough anytime, all we need to do is hold her things over a fire."

"Correction, you're holding _one _of her less significant things over a fire," said Hange. "The rest of her stuff belongs to me, now," she continued in a low voice, the light reflected off her glasses making it impossible to see her eyes. Sitting next to her, Historia found herself edging away from her crazed grin towards Connie as Armin inched closer to Mikasa, his safer seatmate.

"What are we using, Armin?" asked Eren.

"This," answered Levi, pulling out what looked like a worn notebook bound in blackened leather and placing it on the table. Asides from her clothes, it seemed to be the only normal item she owned that didn't present any sudden, unpleasant surprises. "I don't know why she's so attached to it, but it worked wonders more than any amount of hits we gave her. She'll do anything we want her to in order to keep this safe. Good job by the way, Armin," he finished, turning to his subordinate.

"Th-thanks, sir," answered the blonde, blushing red and glancing down at the bit of the table in front of him. "I figured since almost everything she has is made to hurt, it had to be something personal such as one of her notebooks. This is the only one of its kind that has drawings instead of notes and it was hidden in a secret pocket in the innermost section of her bag. I deduced she deemed it precious and brought it forward."

"So, we threaten to burn that thing to ashes," said Jean, inclining his head to the rectangular patch of darkness that disappeared back into Levi's jacket's inner pocket, "and expect her to do everything we say? I don't mean to sound disrespectful, sir, but..." _Are you honestly serious about this? _Historia almost heard him say.

"Yeah," said Levi in front of him. "You brats don't let it bother you. The Scouting Legion's seen far more unreliable shit from Erwin here, and he's still breathing. I can't promise you anything, but don't waste your time on worrying." Everyone seemed to be only slightly comforted by this save for Historia and Eren, who looked at his lap with the face he wore during the quiet times of the day that allowed remembering and regret.

"Hey, Levi," ventured Hange, "I don't want to scare the wits out of anyone, but about your arm–"

"It's time you saw her, Erwin," he snapped, rising from his chair as he did so and taking a loaded candle holder from one of the room's side tables they had placed there for that very purpose. "I assume you'll be busy working with shitty eyes, Armin?"

"Y-yes, sir," said Armin as the grey eyed man lit his stick of wax with one of the candles at the center of their table.

"Well then," he said as Erwin stood up to join him down the trapdoor, "Sasha, Connie, you'll have to settle among yourselves who'll guard her when we resurface. No, Mikasa, I know you have plans to gun her down and I'm not letting you down there. You and Jean take your posts outside. You two switch places in the next six hours," he finished with a nod towards Sasha and Connie before his companion shut the trapdoor above their heads.

Everybody stared at the entrance to the cellar in silence until Hange rose from her seat and stretched. "Well," she said, "so much for worrying over a man's well-being. Come on Armin, I've got a date with my dropper and Petri dishes and I don't want you to miss out on the fun."

Historia rose after observing the glare Jean sent Eren, who needed to be brought to his feet by Mikasa. As she followed the former out the door, the last thing she heard of the dining room was Sasha and Connie absorbed in a game of rock-paper-scissors.

...

"I trust you'll keep her in check?" asked Erwin.

Levi scoffed. "Obviously," he said, gazing at the sputtering flame that lit their upward path.

"Send me a word the moment she fully recovers. I would like to be present the first time you train her." _Train her. _Somehow, to Levi's ears, those last two words sounded terrible. "What do you think of her?" Erwin added, sparing the shorter man a side-ward glance.

"She's the perfect little cunt," Levi answered readily. "But nothing I can't handle."

"Aa. That's good to hear."

"Do you believe her?"

"Perhaps."

"Tsst. Somehow I knew you'd say that." Erwin smirked good-naturedly.

They continued their journey in silence. Levi thought his day couldn't possibly get any worse until the blonde decided to open his mouth halfway up the last flight of stairs.

"But you know what? The first time we met… She kind of reminds me of you back then."

Levi's footing nearly missed the final step of the way. He turned to look at Erwin to see if he was just shitting with him, but the tiny, irritating smile on his face said that he wasn't.

"Che," he scoffed angrily, throwing down the trapdoor with a despondent _bang _using his left hand.

* * *

from the Diary of Historia Reiss, October 1:

… I don't know what to think of her. She's definitely the big thing I've asked for last night, but I don't know if I should be grateful or not.

I patched her up after they finished torturing her and she's worse than the two men who got their nails and teeth peeled off. It looked to me like they've been dancing on the left side of her face and her stomach's so beaten up, I'm surprised she isn't dead.

There's no end to Jean and Heichou's bleeding. I've tried everything to make it _stop_ but I only managed to prevent them from bathing in their blood by putting them in casts to keep them from moving. I'm pissed. It feels weird yet strangely liberating. Must ask Eren if that's normal, not that he understands. Nobody does, of course, but at least they try and sympathize. It could be worse.

On the other hand, she looked like a little child to me. Lost and frightened, probably alone judging by the way she'd been carrying her life around with her. Kind of just like me, really. Unwanted, but she's tough, surviving eight years alone in the wild with Titans like that (I don't know why I believe her. Maybe I _am_ starting to crack like I suggested to me days ago). Armin said her name is Ruska.

I wonder what she dreams of.


End file.
